Literally, from Rome to Hannibal Barca seven years after the Battle of Zama, whereupon the latter was removed from the leadership of Carthage and forced into exile.

During World War I, the German colonial troops in Africa were led by Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. Under his extremely effective leadership and completely cut off from German supply, white Germans and black Askaris waged the most brilliant campaign of the war, when his 14,000 soldiers held down a British force of over 300,000 and became the only German soldiers to invade imperial British territory. After Germany's defeat and the beginning of the Nazizeit, the elderly general was offered the position of Ambassador to Britain by Adolf Hitler personally. What von Lettow-Vorbeck said is not precisely recorded, but they say that when someone said they had heard the old general had "told Hitler to go fuck himself," the nephew responded, "I don't think he put it that politely."

Another World War I example. In 1914, Austria-Hungary amassed its forces next to Serbia's capital city, Belgrade, and began bombing it. In charge of Belgrade's defences was a veteran of three wars, General Mihailo "Iron Man" Živković (yes, that was his actual nickname). When confronted with an ultimatum to surrender the city, General replied with a local cuss-word "Go to your momma's p*ssy". Bonus points: The Austrian messenger had no idea how to translate that to his superiors.

An interesting Real Life occurrence occurred on Indian reservations in The Thirties. The Nazis thought Indians had little loyalty to America and would help them. In addition, the Nazis saw Indians as lost Aryans. Further, they saw their plans for the Jews as little different than if Indians killed all the white people, which they figured Indians wanted to do. So a lot of Nazi propaganda was distributed on reservations by German anthropologists (also collecting intelligence in case Indian languages were used as codes). The result? Possibly the most epic Shut Up, Hannibal! ever: tribes declared war (or renewed declarations of war from the last time) on Germany even before the United States did. Fascist and Nazi ideas were outlawed. And when the United States finally did declare war, Indians from their mid-teens all the way to their forties signed up, lying about their age when need be. And of course—the Germans couldn't tackle every Indian language, and thus the Navajo & Comanche languages were used by the US military as yet another critical part of the Allies' giant intelligence advantage in the War.

Both the Navajo & Comanche codetalkers introduced substituted words that didn't exist in their languages with common words that did - e.g. Navajo "béésh łóóʼ" => "metal fish" for submarine. Comanche codetalkers in Europe referred to Hitler as "posah-tai-vo" => "crazy white man".

During a speech in his presidential campaign in San Diego, Ronald Reagan was being interrupted by a heckler insulting him. Reagan, tired from the campaign trail, simply said "Oh, shut up!" and the crowd gave a standing ovation.

The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire once ordered the unconditional surrender of the Cossacks to his rule. In response, the Cossacks responded with a written reply that stated only "Fuck thine own mother" twice. Though another version has them write a much longer reply, but still filled with hilarious obscenities.

On April 28, 1988, the TV-broadcast French presidential debate occurs between then President François Mitterand (left-wing) and his current Prime minister, right-wing Jacques Chirac. After two years of "cohabitation", the tensions between them are already well-known, but it reaches its peak when Chirac says, "Allow me to say that tonight, I am not the Prime minister, and you are not the President of the Republic: we are two candidates... equals... who submit themselves to the judgment of the French... the only one that matters. Allow me, terefore, to call you Mister Mitterrand!" Then, Mitterrand answers "You are perfectly right about that, Mister Prime minister". What happens next? Until the end of the debate, Chirac calls his adversary "Mister President". He lost the election, until the next one.

At the meeting on 10 November 2007, Venezuela's then-president Hugo Chávez repeatedly interrupted Prime Minister of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's speech to call his predecessor, José María Aznar, a "fascist" and "less human than snakes",and accuse Aznar of having supported a failed coup d'état aimed at removing Chávez from power. Zapatero had earlier irritated Chávez by suggesting that Latin America needed to attract more foreign capital to combat its "chronic, deepening poverty", and claimed that Chávez's policies scared investors out of Latin America. Chávez's attacks became so strong that Zapatero rose to Aznar's defence, even though he had been severely critical of Aznar in the past. Zapatero pointed out that Aznar had been democratically elected and was "a legitimate representative of the Spanish people". Although organizers switched off Chávez's microphone, he continued to interrupt as Zapatero defended Aznar. At this point, King Juan Carlos of Spain leaned forward, turned towards his fellow head of state, and said, "¿Por qué no te callas?" (why don't you shut up?). The king's rebuke received applause from the general audience. He addressed Chávez using the familiar form of "you". (In Spanish, tú is usually used for close friends, family, or children and can be regarded as insulting when used in other circumstances.)

Patrice Lumumba: We have known ironies, insults, blows that we endured morning, noon and evening, because we are Negroes. Who will forget that to a Black one said “tu”, certainly not as to a friend, but because the more honorable “vous” was reserved for whites alone?

Kevin Senapathy: To paint Tribeca’s decision as a conspiracy, as censorship and, laughably, as denial of due process is a sham. Andrew Wakefield has already caused enough death and disease, and he rightfully doesn’t get a respectable platform like Tribeca Film Festival to further spread his destruction. There are plenty of fringe quackery platforms for that.

In 1869, Wyoming's territorial legislature became the first in the nation to grant women suffrage. In 1890, When Wyoming applied for statehood, the US Congress demanded that women's voting rights be abolished first. Wyoming's legislators sent Congress a short but firm response:

Wyoming Legislature: “We may stay out of the Union for 100 years but we will come in with our women."

A Roman officer having just quelled a rebellion in Ilion is said to have smugly declared that Agammemnon with a thousand ships and leading all of Greece took ten years to conquer a city that he'd taken over in ten days, at which point a captive replied that Hector wasn't there to defend it.

In April 1945, newly inaugurated President Harry Truman pressed Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov on the Soviet government's promises of a free and independent Poland, often using "words of one syllable" to convey his insistence that Poland be "free and independent." Molotov was mortified at being spoke to that way, to which Truman responded, "Carry out your agreements, and you won't get talked to like that."

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